Guidance Methods Assailed

Parents See Harm In School Counseling

May 20, 1994|By RON SHAWGO Daily Press

RICHMOND — Parents urged the state Board of Education Thursday to crackdown on school guidance counseling techniques they see as harmful, while counseling supporters said more regulations might keep them from helping children.

The board plans to develop regulations to make sure parents know enough about the counseling their child is undergoing to either accept or reject it. The rules would determine when a parent should be notified and give them the chance to opt out of counseling programs

But if the counseling discussion at Thursday's board meeting is any indication, coming up with rules that will please both sides is not going to be easy.

Diane Jones, a Gloucester County resident, complained that a foster child she watched was in counseling without her approval. She said the state should get rid of elementary school counselors.

"I think you should regulate them and eliminate them from the elementary schools," she said. "They weren't there when I was in school."

But Mary Pat McCartney said counselors are valuable and parental notification "would be a clerical burden" that might keep students from being helped. Many counselors, she added, already notify parents routinely. But many parents, she and others said, cannot be found or do not care about what happens at school.

"Regulate but don't amputate what counselors in Virginia can do," said McCartney, president of the Virginia Elementary Counselors Association.

Localities were first required to have counselors in elementary schools in the 1989-90 school year. Parents have protested to state authorities for at least four years.

Of the five people who raised concerns about counseling Thursday, some mentioned relaxation techniques they believe border on hypnosis.

The techniques, called guided imagery or mind pictures, are sometimes used before class discussions about topics such as self-esteem and respecting others. Children are sometimes asked to do breathing exercises to calm them and then imagine a peaceful place or situation.

Critics say such exercises are akin to psychotherapy, which they say has no place in school.

"My deepest concern is that parents will be notified and parental consent given before a child is taken into psychotherapy," said state Del. Stephen D. Newman, D-Lynchburg, who wants to get notification legislation passed in the General Assembly.

A report on guidance counseling complaints released by the Department of Education Thursday states that 63 percent of the 51 letters the department has received on the subject are from parents concerned about psychotherapeutic techniques, described as guided imagery, deep breathing or progressive relaxation, visualization and meditation.

A third of the letters state that those techniques are harmful to children.

About half of the letter writers said they believed the counseling techniques are invasive, affective in content or are based in the occult, the report says.

About 40 percent of the letters from parents say that they were not informed or were misinformed about the content of the counseling program and techniques used. Some said they were not allowed to review materials until they forced the issue, according to the report.

But counselors said Thursday that is not the rule.

"In general, we think children are best served when parents are involved in the process," said Leslie Caplan, president of the Virginia Counselor Association and an assistant principal at Queens Lake Middle School in York County.

Pam Kloeppel, in charge of counselors for Norfolk schools, agreed.

But if a parent cannot be found, a child still needs a counselor's help and should get it, she said.

"In an urban setting, there are situations where you cannot get parents," she said.

"There are parents who don't want to get involved. ... You need to consider all of your children in Virginia when you are considering your